Reflecting on 1/2 of My Sophomore Year

10th grade started really slow but now it is half way over. The year has gone by really quickly.

The school year began like any other; slow and boring. But lately, it has picked up and seemed to fly by. The work has picked up and deadlines have come quicker than expected.

Nothing special really comes to mind about my sophomore year so far except that all my friends are sixteen and driving and I am still fifteen. I don't turn sixteen until May 29. Unfortunately, I won't be able to drive until after the school year is over.

I'm glad that half the year is over and that exams are almost over. However,I am very sure that I will like my sophomore year a whole lot better when it is over.

Friendship

Friendship is a major theme in the play. In life, if you do good, you will be rewarded. If you are a good friend, you will also be rewarded. Mark Anthony was a faithful friend to Caesar and in the end, he won the battle. If you are a bad friend, you will not be rewarded. Brutus was literally a back-stabber to Caesar. After Brutus was an accomplice in assassinating his friend, he quickly gained power, lost that power, then killed himself.



When discussing this with my classmates, I also thought of a few other good points. You should always be choosy of your friends. Caesar considered his fellow polititians friends and they all conspired against him and killed him. If Caesar would have chosen his friends better, maybe this all would not have happened. You should as well never be too loyal. Lucius, Brutus' servant was too loyal. When Brutus told Lucius to stab him, Lucius did as he was told.

Not only is friendship a major theme in the play, it is also a major one in life.

Leadership

Reading the tragedy, Julius Caesar, I have learned a lot about leadership. Julius Caesar, in my opinion, was not a good ruler because he was on the virge of becoming a tyrant.

Caesar's leadership could be compared to Hitler-Germany, although Caesar's dictatorship never reached fruition. It was wrong of Hitler to use his power as a dictator to kill a countless number of Jews. If Caesar had not been so power-hungry, he would have not been assassinated by his fellow politicians and who knows how history would have played out...

Win-Win---The all-you-can-eat buffet

Before reading *the book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens,* I often felt *vanquished* by the people around me. I was not thinking win-win. *To think* win-win is to think that success can be spread around to everyone; I will not be your doormat and you will not be mine.

Of course, there are others who don't (but should) think this way. An example of win-win thinking? The old saying, "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." By working together, we are both getting what we want and no one is on the lesser end of the deal. Can you imagine where we would be if everyone in the world was thinking win-win...

Paradigm/Be Proactive

My best friend, the loudest and most friendly of them all, was in a very grouchy mood. She yelled at me for accidentally bumping into her, which made me really mad. I started to yell back at her but then remembered that I need to be proactive.

Instead of yelling at her, I softly replied, "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

She kept on walking down the hallway without saying anything back. Later on, I found out why she was as grouchy as a hungry bear.

Her grandpa, the man that had pretty much raised her and had been like a father to her, was in the hospital dying. I was happy with the way I had reacted to her and also understood why she was in such a bad mood.


Simile-a stated comparison (usually formed with "like" or "as") between two fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common.

Support!!

My choice for the upcoming presidential election would most definitely be John McCain. I support this Arizona senator for several reasons including his views on abortion and the war. I believe he is more than fit to run out country due to his experience in the senate and his military expertise in the Vietnam War.
Although he is right on the dot on most issues, I completely disagree with his choice of not drilling for oil in A.N.W.R. As most Americans know, we are very dependant on foreign oil and this issue, that continues to get worse, can be changed. Drilling for oil in A.N.W.R. would put us a step closer towards energy interdependence. A.N.W.R. is in the northern delta region of Alaska and not in the pristine mountains. It is also a very small region. We need to be more energy efficient. This would also get us a few years down the road until we could switch to bio fuel, hydrogen gas, nuclear energy, solar energy, CNG, or wind energy.

Sci-Fi as a Genre

For English 10, I read a sci-fi novel. Using my novel, The Invisible Man, as a basis for the other sci-fi books, I would not promote sci-fi as a genre to read. In my opinion, The Invisible Man was not a very interesting book. This was the first sci-fi book I've read and I didn't like it, but, I have watched sci-fi movies and found them very appealing. Using the movies as a basis, I would most definately read sci-fi novels.

No Need to Fear, Ray-Anne is Here!!

Ray-Anne is a superhero who loves to fight for a boy-free world. She charms boys with her amazing beauty and then burns them to the ground with her blazing red hair. She lived on the sun which explains where she got her golden bronze tan. She has piercing blue eyes and very long eyelashes. She also has a beautiful white smile. Her fiery hair falls just below her thin, muscular shoulders. Ray-Anne's stunning looks aren't only what charms the boys. She is a very flirty super hero. She acts as if she will date the boys after she lures them in with her good looks and then puts them in a trance which gives her enough time to scorch them. Ray-Anne is a fearless superhero who helps in the never-ending battle against the huge pests we all know as boys!